UK couple on run with ill son arrested
The grandmother of a British boy with a severe brain tumor has accused UK authorities of cruelty for seeking an arrest warrant in Spain after the boy's parents removed him from a hospital against medical advice and fled there.
Patricia King told the BBC it was an "absolute disgrace" that her son and daughter-in-law were accused of child neglect after removing 5-year-old Ashya from Southhampton General Hospital last week. The family said UK authorities had refused to provide the kind of treatment Ashya needed.
King said the authorities were "the ones who are cruel, because they have taken poor little Ashya, who is dying of a brain tumor and they won't let the parents - my son and daughter-in-law - they won't let them see him at all".
Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman also weighed in on the matter on Monday, saying people all over the country have been moved by their plight.
Ashya's parents were at a Madrid courthouse awaiting the start of proceedings on Monday on whether to extradite them to the UK.
The parents were arrested on Sunday in southeastern Spain after a European arrest warrant was issued by Interpol at the request of the British police. After his parents' arrest, the child was admitted to a Spanish hospital.
The extradition hearing was scheduled to begin at 9:30 am on Monday, but was delayed because the couple's lawyer had not yet arrived.
The boy's father, Brett King, said in a video posted on YouTube that he pulled his son out of the hospital because he was not satisfied with the care the boy was receiving.
He said he wanted to seek different treatments abroad that were not offered by the British public healthcare system.
AP - AFP
(China Daily 09/02/2014 page12)
